Metal News for November 15, 2009

We post metal news every day, throughout the day, covering thousands of metal bands including underground and unsigned bands. You are currently browsing the news archive, but you can also find news by band.

I Hate Records recently announced the signing of English doom band The Wounded Kings, who will release their second album in November. It's entitled "The Shadow over Atlantis" and offers psychedelic doom metal. In the meantime, you can check out some of the band's music on their MySpace player.

The band is slated to perform at Roadburn 2010 also:Apr 15 2010 - Roadburn Festival, Tilburg

WHAT WE CALL VICTORY has issue a statement via their Myspace blog, regarding the beginning of recording sessions for their new album. The band says that they will be recording for a minimum of 3 months, and plan to release their new album sometime thereafter. Although they have not set a solid release date for their new album, they encourage fans to look for it in the near future. After the release of the album, the band plans to tour in support of record sales.

DYING FETUS is about to embark on “The Planetary Depravity Tour” next week with THE FACELESS. This co-headlining US tour will kick-off on November 17th in Salt Lake City, UT and also include BENEATH THE MASSACRE, VITAL REMAINS and more on select dates. A complete listing of tour dates and cities can be found below with more details to be announced soon.

"Descend Into Depravity" saw its international release in late September and is currently streaming in its entirety at DescendIntoDepravity.info. The album debuted at #166 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart and at #4 on the Heatseekers Chart.

DYING FETUS recently premiered the first video from "Descend Into Depravity," for the track “Shepherd’s Commandment”, online here. The “Shepherd’s Commandment” video was lensed in New York with director Kevin Custer (HATEBREED, TESTAMENT, SOULJA BOY, KINGDOM OF SORROW).

We've had quite a few offers for running contests and giveaways lately, so I decided to create a dedicated page for them. There's no room for a link the main navigation, but you can find the latest contests on the home page sidebar and they will be featured on various other places throughout the site to promote our latest ongoing contests and giveaways.

So check them out and don't forget that the KISS ticket giveaway ends tonight (Sunday, November 15)!

Labels, PR companies, and bands, feel free to contact us if you'd like to run a contest or giveaway on Metalunderground.com.

Gallows has issued the following announcement about canceling their remaining tour dates alongside AFI:

"We're sorry to announce that we have had to cancel our remaining dates on the AFI tour due to illness. We're sorry to disappoint anyone who bought tickets to see us but make sure you go to the show as AFI are an amazing band and we're so lucky to have spent the last few weeks touring with them. We'll be back in the States soon!"

Sweden's Hostile Cell has issued the following studio recording update for their upcoming as-yet-untitled album:

"We're done recording the instruments for our new, yet untitled, album. 15 songs have been fully recorded. I'll get back to you with a full update and sound clips when the vocals are done as well. It's been a long ride... but the results are far beyond anything we've ever done before."

Periphery has issued the following statement about canceling their Holyoke, Massachusetts tour date on November 15th:

"Hey everyone, Matt here. Unfortunately we've had to cancel our last show in Holyoke, Mass. I've had a pretty serious gash on my thumb since the beginning of tour, and over the past couple dates it's gotten progressively worse. I consulted a doctor and was advised to take off a week from playing. Doc said if I didn't, I would absolutely need to get stitches, instead of just some butterfly band aids and rest. It's sucks big time, and we are all super bummed not to be playing today. However, we spoke as a band and after serious consideration decided it was in everyone's best interest to stop before my hand got any worse. We all promise to give our all, and truly hope nothing like this happens again. We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience, and we will undoubtedly make it up to everyone that was planning to come out to the show in Holyoke. Make sure you still go to check out This or the Apocolypse and Mutiny Within - both awesome bands and great dudes! Thanks for reading. Healin' up! Matt and Periphery."

Strange Flesh has issued the following announcement about seeking a second guitarist:

"Now that the writing for the new album is done, we're going to resume the search for a 2nd guitar player. This is so the songs get their just due live, and hopefully this time, we'll find someone with the abilities and work ethic to bring in full fledged. Contact us here if you, or anyone you know might be interested. Thanks."

Death metal act Incantation spent this Halloween touring Central America for the first time in their career. Drummer Kyle Severn issued the following statement regarding the brief tour: "Finally Incantation invades Central America, and what a better time than over Halloween weekend. This was another great experience for the band, for we have been all over the world, but have not played in such metal countries as Guatemala and Honduras. The people there are very metal and truly showed their support. We had a great time, and want to thank the organization for bringing us, and hope to be back soon. Hails 666”

Echoing Severn's sentiment, Incantation guitarist/vocalist John McEntee had this to say, “Yes, it was a great experience, we got to meet a lot of very cool true die hard metal heads and made many new friends. I even seen a friend of mine from back when I lived in New Jersey which was unexpected, but very cool. It is great to know that the death metal underground is alive and well in Central America. Thanks to Edwin and Manuel for a great production and we look forward to returning again to play for all the die hard Incantation supporters again. We also look forward to playing more Central American countries next time.“

The band is gearing up for an early 2010 European tour with Ibex Moon Records label mates Divine Eve, along with Hate and Noctem.

Norwegian hard rockers Beyond The Morninglight, who recently signed to Misantrof Anti-Records, are currently offering their entire debut self-titled album both for streaming and as a free download. The album can be listened to or downloaded at this location.

Brian Vollmer of Canadian metallers Helix has issued the following update about the band's upcoming live shows:

"It’s been an exciting week here at Planet Helix, what with working radio and press on the new CD and getting ready to head to eastern Canada for a whirlwind four day tour. I’ve contacted quite a few fans through Facebook about coming out. As well, I’ve been interviewed by radio stations in every market (in some cases, like Fredericton-two-Fred FM and The Fox.), offered the band up for supper with fans (this is tied in with radio), and been interviewed by several print publications. The band has had several full practices and many private ones as well. By that I mean Brent and Kaleb have been spending days together making sure all the songs are perfect; ditto for Daryl and Fritz. We’ve put the William Tell Overture back into the set, along with Shot Full of Love (from the Wild in the Streets CD). That song was Brent’s idea, and it feels pretty good even at practices, which is an indication that it will work particularly well in a live situation where everyone’s adrenaline is flowing.

"I’ve also had a couple of things made up by my next door neighbor Tim Liinamaa, who owns PRINT STUDIO here in London. I’ve been looking around for stands for the merch booth for a while now. It’s very difficult in some of these clubs to attach signs or backdrops to the wall. Nowadays Business Depot and other print shops sell portable stands. They’re quite pricey. Just for the stand they can run over $200. Then you have to purchase the banner that goes on that. You could easily spend $600 on two signs and banners. In two days Tim put together a backdrop, a stand, and poster for the merch booth. More...

Romanian black metallers Negura Bunget have issued the following statement about releasing a new album and live DVD:

"Maiestrit / Maiastru sfetnic, along Focul Viu (live DVD) are the last materials materials that we worked under the original formula of the band. The first idea to re-record entirely the Maiastru sfetnic album we had soon after the original release came out in 1999. It took some years though before we finally started doing it, in 2008. After a lot of work the basic elements were already recorded in April 2009, when Negura Bunget parted ways with Hupogrammos and Sol Faur. It remained their task though to complete the work on this material. And now 'Maiestrit' is the final legacy of the Negura Bunget past. Release date is schedueled for February 2010.

Italian death metallers Endless Pain have uploaded a new song for streaming. The track "Unleash The Fury" can be heard at the band's MySpace page. Endless Pain also have the following upcoming tour date:

Norway's Cage of Torment has announced the departure of their guitarist Riffmeister. The band is currently holding try outs for a replacement guitarist, and an announcement about their pick is expected soon. Samples of Cage of Torment's music can be found at their official MySpace page.

California death metallers Reciprocal are currently streaming their entire new self-titled album online. "Reciprocal" can be heard at this location. The stream will be available until the album is released on November 19th.

Celtic Frost may very well be one of the most creative and artistic bands in the vast world of metal. They formed from the ashes of the band Hellhammer in 1984 and released their first studio album, "Morbid Tales" in the same year. The album was met with strong acclaim from music critics and the metal underground alike, which led to the band releasing an EP entitled, "Emperor's Return." The band once again released an influential album in the form of "To Mega Therion" in 1985 that did not feature bass player Martin Eric Ain, though he would return to the band after the record's release. Celtic Frost would release the next in a trilogy of acclaimed and classic albums in 1987 when they released, "Into The Pandemonium," one of the most ambitious and experimental albums in the history of underground metal. The record included a sound of an avant-garde nature and featured unlikely covers of the songs "Mexican Radio" by New Wave artists Wall Of Voodoo and "In The Chapel In The Moonlight," which has been performed by artists such as Dean Martin, Kitty Kallen and The Bachelors.

However internal struggle became a massive problem for the band with financial troubles and personal tensions causing the band to briefly break up before frontman Thomas Fischer revived the group with former drummer Stephen Priestly and new members in the shape of guitarist Oliver Amberg and bass player Curt Victor Bryant. The resulting album, "Cold Lake," proved less than well-received by the band's fanbase with some labelling the bands as sell outs. "Cold Lake" featured a much more mainstream sound that seemed to be more influenced by bands such as Motley Crue than Venom. Fischer would later claim that the musical style on the album was due to his lack of interest in the creative output of the band. Martin Eric Ain would rejoin the band and they recorded the album, "Vanity/Nemesis" which was more in the vein of thrash metal than it's previous releases, which allowed the group to regain some of the credibility they had lost with "Cold Lake." The band planned to follow this record with a double album entitled, "Under Apollyon's Sun" but decided to split up before they entered the studio. During the split Martin Eric Ain would find success as a businessman, becoming the owner of a number of bars and nightclubs, while singer/guitarist Tom Fischer founded the industrial metal outfit Apollyon Sun and wrote a book about the history of Celtic Frost entitled, "Are You Morbid?"

After working together on the re-issue of several Celtic Frost albums, Fischer and Ain began writing music together under the Celtic Frost banner once again, along with guitarist Erol Unala and drummer Franco Sesa. They released a demo named, "Prototype" which featured ten new songs, before releasing their comeback album, "Monotheist" in 2006. The album received a huge amount of positive feedback and was labelled the darkest album they had ever written and was accompanied by the band's most ambitious tour yet, touring in countries they had never performed in before and headlining festivals such as Wacken Open Air. However the reunion did not last for as long as many had hoped, when Fischer decided to leave the band in April of 2008, leading to the band's demise once again. Celtic Frost will now go down in the history books of metal as one of the most influential, creative and darkest bands the world had ever seen.

BARONESS sees the premiere of their first video from "Blue Record," for the track "A Horse Called Golgotha," online now via MySpace Music (and viewable below). The "A Horse Called Golgotha" video was shot in the band’s hometown of Savannah, Georgia with director Joshua Green for The Distillery Collective. BARONESS worked with Greene previously on the band’s "Wanderlust" video from "Red Album" that can be viewed here.

BARONESS is about to embark on a full U.S. tour in support of "Blue Record" starting on November 18th in Washington, DC. Guests on this month-long tour with include EARTHLESS, TORCHE, PIG DESTROYER, US CHRISTMAS, IRON AGE and more.

"Blue Record" debuted at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and #117 on the Billboard Top 200 during its first week of release. The Heatseekers Chart lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists who have never appeared in the Top 100 of the Billboard 200. "Blue Record," the follow-up to 2007’s "Red Album," saw its North American release on October 13th and is currently streaming in its entirety at BlueRecord.info.

Classic Swedish death metal outfit NIRVANA 2002 will see the release of "Recordings 89-91" next month via Relapse Records. Decibel Magazine’s "Deciblog" is hosting a free MP3 for the collection’s opening track “Mourning” exclusively at this location. "Recordings 89-91" compiles almost all of the band’s recorded works onto one disc, including previously unreleased songs and a brand new remix of their legendary demo "Disembodied Spirits." NIRVANA 2002 only released a series of demos and splits during their existence through the late 80’s and early 90’s.

"Recordings 89-91" features extensive liner notes from vocalist / guitarist Orvar Säfström (who later joined ENTOMBED) in addition to an introduction from Tomas Lindberg (AT THE GATES, DISFEAR). This collection will be available on CD and a limited run of LPs. "Recordings 89-91" was released on November 10th North America and November 16th internationally. Additional NIRVANA 2002 audio samples can be heard online now via the band’s MySpace page.

On November 17th, Deftones with the assistance of CharityBuzz.com will commence a three week online auction to raise money for their brother, Chi Cheng. With the event only a few days away, the response has been overwhelming and Chino, as well as Deftones, would like to send their thanks to all involved:

"Wow, first let me start off saying how amazed I am at the generosity of all the friends and artists who have come forward for this auction. We, Deftones are so very grateful to all for your donations and time you've put into making this a success. I myself had no idea it would be this big. Just goes to show how many good friends and good will Chi has made over the last 20 years, just being the good dude he is.

"If you were lucky enough to befriend Chi over the last couple decades you would know that there is not a more kind, or more giving person. It's so great to see it all coming back around for him.

"I really want to thank everyone that has kept him in their thoughts, prayers, and kept all the positive energy and love flowing his way. I truly believe he will return to us one day when he is good and rested with a great story to tell in his off the wall Cheng sense of humor. Chi is one tuff "MF" and if anyone can make it through this, it's gonna be him.

"Chi, I miss you and love you and so does the world. Hope to see you soon."

Metal Injection has posted a full album stream of the new CD from THE EMPIRE SHALL FALL, the new band featuring founding KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocalist Jesse Leach amongst its ranks. The self-titled album will be released next Tuesday, November 17th via Angle Side Side Records.